Open-source Apple Notes alternatives

Memos is a personal timeline for quick notes that you host yourself. The idea is to write first and organize later: you save a thought in Markdown without choosing a title or folder, optionally attach images and files, and it lands on a chronological feed.

Finding things again relies on search, tag filters and a view of any given day on the timeline. You can pin important memos and save frequently used filters as views. New memos are private, and you decide per memo whether to keep it to yourself, show it to signed-in users or invite specific people, or make it public with a link. The project advertises zero telemetry and a full export of your data.

Memos is MIT licensed and built with Go on the back end, React on the front end and SQLite for storage. The quickest way to run it is a Docker container, with other options in the deployment guide, and there is a live demo to try first. Releases follow a year-and-month version scheme.

Joplin is a note-taking and to-do application, free and open source, that can manage large collections of notes organized into notebooks. Notes are written in Markdown, are searchable, can be tagged, and can be edited either in the app or in your own text editor. Apps are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

The app is offline first, so all your data lives on your phone or computer and stays accessible without a connection. Notes can be synchronized with end-to-end encryption through services such as Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and Joplin Cloud, and topics also mention WebDAV. Full-text search is available on every platform, and plugins and themes let you customize the app. A web clipper saves pages, and notes exported from Evernote can be imported with formatting, attachments and metadata intact; plain Markdown files can be imported as well.

The repository license is listed as 'Other', so check its terms if you plan to redistribute. Joplin is a popular choice for people who want an Evernote replacement that keeps data local or on storage they already control.

Notesnook is a note-taking app that puts privacy first. Everything is encrypted on your device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 before it syncs, following zero-knowledge principles, and the whole thing is open source. It is presented as an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Evernote, aiming to show that privacy does not have to cost convenience.

The repository contains all the code needed to build and use the web, desktop and mobile clients. They are built mainly with TypeScript and React, with Electron for desktop and React Native for mobile, and parts of the code base are still being ported from JavaScript. A server component written with .NET appears in the topics. The website covers the full feature list, roadmap and downloads, and the team encourages community involvement through Discord.

Notesnook is licensed under GPL-3.0. A hosted sync service is operated by the company behind it, and the open-source code lets you inspect how encryption is handled. It suits people moving away from Evernote or other cloud notes who want strong encryption and cross-platform apps.

FSNotes is a native notes app for macOS and iOS built around the idea of owning your notes. Each note is stored as a portable Markdown or plain-text file rather than in a proprietary database, so the notes can be opened with any compatible app now or years later.

The app focuses on writing and quick retrieval. It handles several folders, external editors, sync through iCloud Drive or Dropbox, and Git backups if you want them, and connects ideas with tags and double-bracket links. Private notes can be protected with AES-256 encryption, and it renders code blocks, Mermaid diagrams and MathJax math. Search and navigation are designed to stay smooth across large note collections.

FSNotes is written in Swift and released under the MIT licence. The apps are sold through the App Store, and those purchases support continued development, while the source code is open. It suits Apple users who want local Markdown notes with sync through their own storage service.

Standard Notes is a note-taking app with end-to-end encryption, built for digitalists and professionals, aiming to keep notes, files and life's work in one secure place. Only the user can read their notes, and sync across devices is encrypted by default.

You register for an account on the web app and install clients for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. The README highlights fast, free and encrypted sync on an unlimited number of devices, public source code, the option of hosting your own server with a few steps, and a focus on longevity and sustainability. A companion service called Listed turns notes into an online publication with email newsletters, and developers can build and publish extensions.

The web app compiles to static HTML, JavaScript and CSS files that can be served from any web server, and the README includes build and development instructions. Standard Notes is written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0, with a forum and help pages for support. It suits privacy-minded users who want encrypted notes with the option to host their own backend.

Simplenote Electron is the open-source desktop and web client for Simplenote, a note-taking service from Automattic. The app is built with React and packaged with Electron, which lets the same codebase run in a browser and as an installable application, with packages producible for macOS, Windows and Linux.

Notes are synchronized through the Simperium library, and the interface is written in TypeScript with ReactJS. The repository documents how to build packages and how to run unit tests. Local development currently requires an existing account on the test server or access to production credentials, because the email-first signup flow no longer allows creating accounts in the test database, and sharing and publishing features do not work in development builds.

The code is released under GPL-2.0 and follows the coding guidelines used by wp-calypso. As a client for the hosted Simplenote service, it is meant for people who already use that service rather than for self-hosting their own notes server.

Jotty is a self-hosted application for managing personal checklists and notes. It is easy to deploy, keeps all data on your own server, and can encrypt and decrypt notes for extra privacy. It was previously known as rwMarkable and is released under the AGPL-3.0 license.

The interface offers task lists with drag-and-drop ordering, a rich text editor for notes, keyboard shortcuts, translations, and custom themes and emojis. Data is stored as files rather than in a database, which keeps backups simple. For access control it supports single sign-on through OIDC and multi-factor authentication, and it exposes an API.

Docker Compose is the recommended way to install it, and the documentation covers initial setup, data storage, the versioning scheme, and encryption. Jotty suits homelab users and individuals who want a simple, private alternative to cloud to-do and note apps.